Everything points to the Nordrsetur having been situated in the districts either in or to the south of Disco Bay,[286] which must have been a natural hunting-ground for the Greenlanders, just as the Norwegians sail long distances to Lofoten for fishing. Moreover, one of the objects of the voyages to Nordrsetur was to collect driftwood; now the driftwood comes with the Polar Current round Cape Farewell and is thrown up on shore along the whole of the west coast northward as far as this current washes the land—that is to say, about as far north as Disco Bay. In the south of Greenland, the ancient Eastern Settlement, there is drift-ice for part of the year, and not so much driftwood comes ashore as farther north, in the ancient Western Settlement (especially the Godthaab district) and to the north of it. Besides, in the settlements there were many to find it and utilise it, while in the uninhabited regions there were only the Eskimo, of whom perhaps there were as yet few south of 68° N. lat. On their way to and from the Nordrsetur, therefore, the Greenlanders travelled along the shore and collected driftwood wherever they found it. In Iceland this was misunderstood in the sense that driftwood was supposed to be washed ashore chiefly in Nordrsetur; and they believed it to come from Markland, perhaps because the Greenlanders sometimes went there for timber, and it was thus regarded by them as a country rich in trees. It is, however, also possible that the name Markland, i.e., woodland, itself may have created this conception. In reality most of the driftwood comes from Siberia, which was unknown to them, and it is brought with the drift-ice over the Polar Sea and southward along the east coast of Greenland.
Driftwood. From an Icelandic MS., fifteenth century
Voyage to Baffin’s Bay in 1267
The following is the account of the voyage of about 1267, given by Björn Jónsson (taken, according to his statement, from the Hauksbók, where it is no longer to be found):
“That summer [i.e., 1266] when Arnold the priest went from Greenland, and they were stranded in Iceland at Hitarnes, pieces of wood were found out at sea, which had been cut with hatchets and adzes (‘þexlum’), and among them one in which wedges of tusk and bone were imbedded.[287] The same summer men came from Nordrsetur, who had gone farther north than had been heard of before. They saw no dwelling-places of Skrælings, except in Króksfjardarheidr, and therefore it is thought that they [i.e., the Skrælings] must there have the shortest way to travel, wherever they come from.... After this [the following year ?] the priests sent a ship northward to find out what the country was like to the north of the farthest point they had previously reached; and they sailed out from Króksfjardarheidr, until the land sank below the horizon (‘lægði’). After this they met with a southerly gale and thick weather (‘myrkri’), and they had to stand off [i.e., to the north]. But when the storm passed over (‘i rauf’) and it cleared (‘lysti’), they saw many islands and all kinds of game, both seals and whales [i.e., walrus ?], and a great number of bears. They came right into the gulf [i.e., Baffin’s Bay] and all the land [i.e., all the land not covered by ice] then sank below the horizon, the land on the south and the glaciers (‘jökla’); but there was also glacier (‘jökull’) to the south of them as far as they could see;[288] they found there some ancient dwelling-places of Skrælings (‘Skrælingja vistir fornligar’), but they could not land on account of the bears. Then they went back for three ‘dœgr,’ and they found there some dwelling-places of Skrælings (‘nökkra Skrælingja vistir’) when they landed on some islands south of Snæfell. Then they went south to Króksfjardarheidr, one long day’s rowing, on St. James’s day [July 25]; it was then freezing there at night, but the sun shone both night and day, and, when it was in the south, was only so high that if a man lay athwartships in a six-oared boat, the shadow of the gunwale nearest the sun fell upon his face; but at midnight it was as high as it is at home in the settlement when it is in the north-west. Then they returned home to Gardar” [in the Eastern Settlement].
Björn Jónsson says that this account of the voyage was written by Halldor, a priest of Greenland (who did not himself take part in the expedition, but had only heard of it), to Arnold, the priest of Greenland who was stranded in Iceland in 1266. It was then rewritten in Iceland (or Norway ?), perhaps by one of the copyists of the Hauksbók, who was unacquainted with the conditions in Greenland; and afterwards it was again copied, and perhaps “improved,” at least once (by Björn Jónsson himself). Unfortunately, the leaves of the Hauksbók which must have contained this narrative have been lost. There is therefore a possibility that errors and misunderstandings may have crept in, and such an absurdity as that “they could not land on account of the bears” (though they nevertheless saw ancient Eskimo dwellings!) shows clearly enough that the narrative is not to be regarded as trustworthy in its details; but there is no reason to doubt that the voyage was really made, and it must have extended far north in Baffin’s Bay. It cannot have taken place in the same year (1266) in which the men spoken of came from Norðrsetur, but at the earliest in the following year (1267).
We may probably regard as one of the objects of the expedition the investigation of the northward extension of the Eskimo. The voyagers sailed out through Vaigat (Króksfjord), in about 70½° N. lat.; they met with a southerly gale and thick weather, and were obliged to keep along the coast; the south wind, which follows the line of the coast, also swept the ice northwards, and in open sea they came far north in the Polar Sea; but, if the statements are exact, they cannot have gone farther than a point from which they were able to return to Króksfjardarheidr in four days’ sailing and rowing.[289] If we allow at the outside that in the three days they sailed on an average one degree, or sixty nautical miles, a day, which is a good deal along a coast, and if we put a good day’s rowing at forty miles, we shall get a total of 220 miles; or, if they started from the northern end of Vaigat in 70½°, they may have been as far north as 74° N. lat., or about Melville Bay. In any case there can be no question of their having been much farther north. Here the land is low, and the inland ice (“jökull”) comes right down to the sea, with bare islands outside (see map, [p. 259]). Here they found old traces of Eskimo. Then they returned south to Vaigat, but on the way thither they found Eskimo dwellings (that is, in this case tents) on some islands at which they put in.[290] It may be objected to this explanation that it does not agree with the statement as to the sun’s altitude. But here there must be a misunderstanding or obscurity in the transmission of the text. Króksfjardarheidr is always mentioned elsewhere as a particularly well-known place in Nordrsetur, to which the Greenlanders resorted every summer for seal-hunting, and it is far from likely that the statements as to the midnight sun being visible, as to the frosts at night, and the detailed information as to the sun’s altitude (in a description otherwise so concise), referred to so generally familiar a part of the country. It is obvious that it must refer to the unknown regions, where they were farthest north; but we thus lose the information as to the date on which the sun’s altitude was observed; it must in any case have been four days before St. James’s day, and it may have been more. Moreover, the information given is of no use for working out the latitude. The measurement of the shadow on a man lying athwartships does not help us much, as the height of the gunwale above the man’s position is not given. The statement as to the sun’s altitude at midnight might be of more value; but whether “at home in the settlement” means the Western Settlement, or whether it does not rather mean Gardar (in the Eastern Settlement) to which they “returned home,” we do not now know for certain, nor do we know on what day it was that the sun was at an equal altitude in the north-west. If St. James’s day (July 25) is meant, then it is unfortunate that the sun would not be visible above the horizon at Gardar when it was in the north-west. According to the Julian Calendar, which was then in use, July 25 fell seven or eight days later than now. If Midsummer Day is intended, of which, however, there is no mention in the text, then the sun would be about 3° 41′ above the horizon in the north-west at Gardar. If it is meant that on July 20 the sun was at this altitude, then the latitude would be 74° 34′ N. [cf. H. Geelmuyden, 1883a, p. 178]. But all this is uncertain. We only know that the travellers saw the sun above the horizon at midnight. If we suppose that at least the whole of the sun’s disc was above the horizon, and that it was St. James’s day, then they must at any rate have been north of 71° 48′ N. lat. (as the sun’s declination was about 17° 54′ on July 25 in the thirteenth century).[291] If the date was earlier, then they may have been farther south.